Vampire in Atlantis

Lady Serai. Just Ven.”

He crossed to her, extending his hand, and she took it almost without meaning to, because she was so surprised by his reaction. He bowed over her hand, but he was still chuckling. When he straightened, he grinned at Daniel and then lightly punched him on the shoulder.

“You’re in big trouble now, aren’t you, my friend?”

Daniel pressed his lips together, but she could see the answering grin trying to escape. “I had considered that thought,” he said, flashing an amused glance at Serai.

“You presume too much, vampire,” Conlan said. An edge of menace turned his words to daggers, meant to wound or warn.

Serai was unimpressed.

Apparently, so was Daniel. “You might want to think again, if you’re going to tell me what I may or may not presume to do, Atlantean,” Daniel said.

Serai thought for a moment and then raised her hands, palms up, and called to small spheres of energy to manifest in each; a clear visual warning that she was not defenseless. She waited until she had the attention of all three of them, after Daniel and Conlan stopped the ridiculous male posturing.

“I need no one, least of all a child of a prince, to tell me what I may do. You lost all right to give advice on my future when you abandoned me to my crystal prison in order to claim your human woman, Prince Conlan,” she said.

Conlan’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open a little. Not used to anyone speaking up to him, perhaps. Too bad for him.

She inclined her head as another memory surfaced. “My congratulations on your marriage and the birth of your heir. I trust both mother and son are well.”

“Yes, they are very well, and Riley is anxious to meet you. If—if that would be acceptable to you,” he said stiffly, probably suddenly realizing exactly how awkward that meeting would be.

Hello, my wife, meet the woman who was meant to be my wife. Let’s all have a glass of wine and discuss.

She smiled at the thought and allowed the energy spheres to vanish.

“Good you have a sense of humor. You’re going to need it,” Ven said. “But we’re on the clock here. Do you want to tell us what happened? How the stasis pod exploded?”

He glanced at Conlan, and they appeared to have a mental conversation. Ven nodded and turned toward Serai, taking her hands. Daniel tensed and stepped closer, but made no other move. She could feel how much he trusted at least the younger prince and, if not trusted, exactly, still respected Conlan.

“We have some very bad news,” Ven said, no trace of his smile remaining. “Delia—she died. Some sort of malfunction in the Emperor’s power, and—”

She cut him off and pulled her hands from his. “I know. I felt her die. More will die if I don’t find the Emperor soon; I know this, too. Is that what you came to tell me? Surely your brother didn’t come to apologize to me after all this time.”

“I apologized to you, Serai,” Conlan said, stepping closer, his gaze searing into her. “You were asleep, of course, but how else was I to do it? We have had our finest minds trying to solve the problem of the stasis pods so that we could release you and the others, but apparently the Emperor has been malfunctioning for quite some time, unknown to us.”

“How is that possible? How is possible that the king-to-be of Atlantis can be unaware that the six surviving citizens of Atlantean ancient civilization were in danger of dying horribly, trapped in crystal cages? Trapped for thousands of years beyond what we were originally told; for millennia past what we were promised.”

Conlan threw his hands in the air, frustration written all over his face. “How could I know what you were originally promised? All records of the event are lost.”

Serai had started pacing, but then she whirled around in shock to face him. “Lost? Lost? In an underwater city trapped under its own prison—an all-encompassing dome? Where, pray tell me, O High Prince Conlan, where could those scrolls possibly have gone?”

She turned to Ven and tilted her head, pasting a polite expression of inquiry on her face. “Did giant fish swim by and steal them? Did the people get tired of ordinary food and eat them?”

Ven made a choking kind of noise, and she rolled her eyes and turned back to his brother.

“Did the children of Atlantis decide to use them to wipe their bottoms? Please, Conlan, oh future king, tell me how your lineage managed to lose the only means to release us.”

Daniel suddenly shot up off the ground and flew straight up into the air and vanished. Serai stared after him, not understanding why he would leave her at such a time.

Had she sounded like such a shrew that he needed to escape?

Before her mind could circle around that unpleasant idea, he was back, dropping silently out of the sky and landing lightly next to Serai. He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

“Sorry. Thought I heard something. It was only an animal.” He grinned at her. “You were doing so well on your own, I knew you wouldn’t mind.”

She impulsively rose on her toes and kissed him. “Thank you.”

When she turned, Conlan was practically shaking with repressed energy. “You cannot be involved with a vampire,” he said. “Poseidon will never allow it.”

“Oh, like Atlanteans can never wed a human? Hypocrisy, thy name is Conlan.”

Ven wandered off a few paces and sat on a boulder. “She has a point. Also, this isn’t a vampire. This is Daniel. Daniel who has saved our lives—who has saved many Atlantean lives—on more than one occasion.”

“Daniel is a vampire,” Conlan pointed out through clenched teeth. “She is a princess of ancient Atlantis, a woman with the pure blood of the ruling elders, fit to one day be queen—”

“If you say anything at all that has to do with breeding stock, I will blast you with energy spheres until you cry for your mother’s teat,” Serai said sweetly.

“Speaking of blasting, I am standing right here,” Daniel said, sounding surprisingly cheerful. “If you want to debate my worthiness to be with Serai, you can talk directly to me.”

“You are not a part of this conversation,” Conlan growled.

“Actually, he is, since he helped relieve me of the unfortunate burden of my virginity not an hour ago,” Serai said, taking a small and perhaps petty joy in telling Conlan about it.

Ven whistled again, but Conlan stumbled back a few paces as if she’d stabbed him. He speared Daniel with a hot glare that would have killed him had it been a dagger.

“I will murder you with my bare hands,” Conlan told Daniel, fury all but radiating off his skin. “I will—”

“You will do nothing at all, as you have no right to be angry, or defensive, or hostile over this news,” Serai interrupted. “However, it will be interesting to tell High Princess Riley of your reaction.”

“I spent centuries thinking my duty would be to protect you,” Conlan finally said. “I don’t . . . I don’t know how to give that up, especially to think of one of our most cherished citizens of ancient times giving herself to a man with no soul.”

Daniel made a small noise, as if he’d been struck, but she couldn’t look at him. Not yet.

Words never spoken hung heavy in the air between she and Conlan, the maiden-no-longer and the prince who had scorned her. There had never been love, but between them they had hurt pride in gracious plenty.

The realization stabbed at Serai’s heart, and she knew she had to let her anger go. At least until they recovered the Emperor and rescued the maidens. “This is unspeakable of us, Conlan,” she said softly. “I apologize for the part my wounded pride has played in this conflict. Those women depend on us, and every minute we spend in this foolish debate is perhaps another minute less that they have to survive.”

Conlan hesitated, and then he bowed to her, more deeply than he had before. “Of course you’re right, and you shame me with your graciousness, Princess.”

She shook her head. “Princess no longer, please. Just Serai. Now we have to get moving.”

Daniel swung his backpack over one shoulder, but then stopped. “You didn’t mention Jack. Is he okay? Did Alaric find a way to help him?”

Conlan glanced at Ven, who shrugged. “Alaric did not return to Atlantis, and certainly not with Jack. We don’t even know if Poseidon will allow shape-shifters in Atlantis, so one of our warriors who married a panther shifter has